


Stitch Me A Lesson

by Ayearandaday



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: 'Fuck you' bouquet makes an appearance, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anger Management, Bad Puns, Ben is too smart for his own good, But only in passing, Embroidery, F/M, Language of Flowers, Passive-Aggressive Ben, Rey is patient, Unholy amount of children OC, teacher rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 04:06:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17780267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayearandaday/pseuds/Ayearandaday
Summary: After punching his boss Ben is supposed to take alternative anger management classes. He believes he'll be doing calligraphy but things won't go the way he thinks.





	Stitch Me A Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure: while I do know some embroidery basics, I have never taken actual classes so sorry for any inconsistensies. Also if you happen to know other hand-made Reylo AUs (I distinctly remember two wonderful knitting ones), kindly point them out to me, please and thank you.

Amilyn’s office was precisely eight strides long and six strides wide. Ben had gathered enough empirical evidence while pacing it like a caged tiger. If the woman was bothered by his behavior, she didn’t let it show.

“Would you, please, sit down?” Amilyn asked calmly.

“Are you insane? What were you thinking?!”

“Funny. So it’s you who punched your boss, but I’m insane?” she deadpanned.

Ben glowered. “You are perfectly aware that I had my reasons.”

“You broke his nose.”

“I improved his face.” Amilyn rolled her eyes. “You know that Snoke is a piece of shit.”

“This is precisely what your family was telling you for the last… how many years exactly? But good to know that we are finally on the same page. Now, please, finish your tea.”

Still fuming, Ben reluctantly sat down glaring at the lavender pattern on a tea cup that matched his aunt’s current hair color. “I will not take anger management classes,” he maintained stubbornly.

Amilyn sighed and put down her tea, a tiniest hint of annoyance cracking her perfectly calm facade.

“I don’t think you have much choice, Ben. Unless you wanted some jail time, of course. In that case you should have informed me and Leia earlier so that we hadn’t wasted our time pleading your case.”

“It’s Kylo now,” he snapped. “So the whole thing was my mother’s idea, wasn’t it?” The woman huffed.

“Your parents named you Ben and your legal name is still Bed so this is how I’m calling you. And just to remind you ‘the whole thing’ is actually your mother trying to minimize negative consequences of _your_ actions. Because yes, actions do have consequences, _Ben_ , and at your age you are supposed to clean your own mess, _Ben_ , and since you are clearly unable to think before you act, _we_ will think for you. So you _will_ drink your tea and you _will_ behave yourself and you’ll do _precisely_ what miss Kanata will say. Do you understand, _Ben?_ ”

He gulped. Despite her pastel hair, feminine clothes and willowy stature Amilyn Holdo was absolutely not a delicate flower. The woman could easily command armies while maintaining her perfect ladylike appearance and no one in the right mind would piss her intentionally. So Ben did exactly what any sane person with working self-preservation instinct would do – he silently nodded.

“Good,” nodded Amilyn, her lips curling into barely there smile. “If I remember correctly miss Kanata is supposed to join us…” she was interrupted by a knock on the door, “right now.” They watched a dark-skinned diminutive woman in huge coke-bottle glasses confidently stride in.

“Good afternoon, miss Kanata.”

“Please, call me Maz.” She joined them at the table. “Amilyn Holdo and Ben Solo, I presume?”

“Correct. Tea?”

“Please. One sugar, no milk. Thank you. Now let’s not beat around the bush and skip the formalities. Mister Solo…”

“It’s Ren.” Maz furrowed her brows.

“My paperwork says you are Ben Solo.”

“He is,” interjected Amilyn with amused smile.

“Then that’s how I’m going to refer to you,” resolute Maz narrowing her eyes. Ben squirmed in his seat uncomfortably. “Mister Solo, I’m here to inform you that you have several options: community service, anger management classes or alternative therapy. I personally consider the first option more efficient, though your lawyer and Dean Organa advocate the latter.” She pointedly looked at Ben. He set his jaw.

“I’m not going to a therapist.”

“That is not a must though you look like you need one. Anyway, alternative therapy is focused on non-violent activities which help with anger issues and reduce stress level.”

“Nor I’m doing freaking meditations.”

“That’s a very narrow view…”

“And no breezing exercises.” Maz sighed and adjusted her glasses.

“Mister Solo, do you have any hobbies?” Ben blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Hobbies, activities you enjoy in your free time.” She considered for a moment his stunned expression. “OK, what do you do when you are at home?” Ben looked pensive.

“Um… I sleep?”

“Something else?”

“I grad papers.”

“Not work related.”

“I read, I work out. What else do you want to hear?” he implored. Maz closed her eyes in exasperation.

“OK, let’s try a different approach. What did you enjoy doing as a child? Any particular interest?” Ben looked at a loss.

“He did calligraphy,” chimed in Amilyn.

“Really?” Maz raised her brows in surprise. “Did you like it?”

“Um… yes.”

“Why?”

“It kind of helped to clear my head.”

Maz hummed and reached for her notebook. “So you are telling me that you sincerely enjoyed an activity which requires patience, attention to the details and concentration and it helped to calm you down?”

“Yes?”

“Interesting.” She scribbled something in her notebook. “What a nimble fingers you must have.” Ben glanced confusedly on his bear paws. “Anything else?”

“I also used to do martial arts.”

“Not sure how it fit the concept of non-violent activities but I’ll keep it in mind.” She scribbled some more. “Something else?”

“Not really.” Maz smiled in somewhat unsettling way.

“Very well. In this case I’ll let you know that you must attend sixteen ninety-minute classes of my choice. I’ll keep you informed on the beginning date. Do you have any questions?” Ben shook his head then reconsidered.

“Wait, where exactly are these classes?”

Maz looked confused. “Anch-To Amidala-Naberrie Educational Center. I assumed you knew.”

Ben rose abruptly towering over diminutive woman. Most people would try to shrink from his obvious anger but Maz didn’t even blink. He leaned over her, looked straight in the eye and slowly, with conviction, said: “I. Am. Not. Going. To My. Uncle’s. Classes.”

“You are not going to your uncle’s classes,” blankly repeated Maz. “That would be law infringement. You are having the teacher of my choice and I _personally_ oversee the matter. Is that all?”

“Yes,” blinked impressed Ben.

“Wonderful. We’ll be in touch.”  


Ben stared at the door. The door probably stared back. True to her words Maz had contacted him to announce that every Monday and Thursday he’d be spending an hour and half of his time in room 504 of Anch-To Amidala-Naberrie Educational Center for the next two months. She had specifically asked him to be on time. He was already fifteen minutes late. Deciding that he’d better not make it twenty Ben finally knocked.

“Come in,” answered surprisingly female voice. For some reasons he had expected a male teacher. Ben opened the door and was met with the sight that knocked the air out of his lungs. Firstly, the teacher was a young woman, a beautiful young woman with chestnut hair, hazel eyes and a smile that could lit the whole room. The room though… It was full of children, mostly girls. Their ages varied from five (or three or seven, Ben couldn’t really tell) to teenagers. And they all looked at him expectantly. Ben gulped.

“Mister Solo?” inquired the teacher.

“It’s Ren,” he replied distractedly.

“Oh, I’m sorry, you are probably looking for a different class.”

“No, it’s the right one, sorry. My birth name is Ben Solo but my professional name is Kylo Ren.” The woman looked at him confusedly.

“Um, my paperwork says ‘Solo’…”

“Yes, but I don’t use it.”

“And Maz specifically pointed it out… Anyway, please, come in. Take a seat.”

Ben moved to the farther end of the class studiously ignoring curious gazes and encountered another problem. Both the chair and the table were tiny. Well, not precisely tiny but not quite accommodating for an adult as tall as a beanpole and built like a brick house. Mentally cursing Snoke, his mother, his uncle and Maz he looked back at the teacher. She blushed.

“Sorry, Maz never told me you were…” 

“A behemoth?” quipped a dark-haired girl from the first row.

“Paige, it’s impolite!” chastised her the woman.

“Sorry, Aunty Rey, I won’t call mister Ben…”

“Kylo.”

“Mister Kylo Ben a behemoth again,” the dark-haired girl finished abashedly. “He is just very big.”

“Miss Tano says that you shouldn’t use ‘very’, there are other words,” interjected a girl with curly hair in double buns.

“Cassie!” gasped Rey.

“Which words?” asked Paige curiously.

“I don’t know, like, huge.”

“Or enormous, or towering, or giant,” added the dark-haired boy.

“Cassie, Temiri, stop!” demanded indignant Rey.

“Sorry, miss.”

“OK, OK, I’ve got the message,” sighed Ben struggling to fit his long legs under the table.

“All settled? As I have already told you my name is Rey and you’ll be stuck with me for the rest of the course. Today we have an introduction lecture where we’ll discuss our instruments, materials and a bit of color theory. Does everyone have everything required?” Ben blinked in confusion. Maz conveniently forgot to tell him about _that_. Apparently Rey noticed his struggle.

“Mister Solo?”

“I, um, not quite prepared.” She smiled at him.

“That’s OK, I keep emergency kits. Give me a moment.” Rey quickly rummaged through her table and produced a clear plastic bag with victorious ‘aha’. She promptly reached Ben’s table, handed him the packet and returned to her spot leaving him to stare dumbly on the bag’s content. Instead of brushes and ink bottles there were a neatly folded piece of fabric, a weird hoop, scissors, a couple of thread skeins, a needle container and an odd small thing with plastic handle and rhomb-shaped  wire loop.

Ben cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”

“Is something wrong?” _Oh, do you want a chronological or alphabetical order?_

“What is this?” he pointed at the bag.

“Um, the supplies?” Rey looked thoroughly confused. Ben quickly checked other tables. He probably should have noticed from the very beginning that no one had paper, or pens, or ink, or brushes. Instead the tables were littered with the variations of the stuff he was given. He remembered Maz saying something about his ‘nimble fingers’. The nagging suspicion in the back of his head turned into a rather unpleasant realization.  Ben closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I understand this is not a calligraphy class?”

“Calligraphy? No, I teach embroidery,” Rey answered with wide eyes.

“Fu…” Ben stuttered remembering where he is, “Fantastic. Excuse me, I have an urgent meeting with a certain social worker.” To his surprise he found his path blocked by annoyed Rey with hands on her hips.

“Where do you think you are going?” she demanded.

“Out, obviously. There was some kind of mistake.”

“And who, precisely, allowed you to leave? Please, sit down.” Ben felt the beginning of a headache. His temper flared.

“What makes you think I need your permission?” he spat.

“Miss Rey,” gasped a small dark-haired girl in front of him, “mister Kylo Ben is angry.”

“Don’t worry, Sabine, everything is fine,” she replied calmly before turning to Ben, her stare hardening.

“Mister Solo, sit down! You’ve come here late, unprepared, you are disrupting my lesson, unnerving my students and now you have the audacity to argue with me?! You think I do not know the conditions on which you are here? Believe me, I’m perfectly aware. I have to report to Maz on your behavior and if you make one more step without my permission, you’ll be in so much trouble, you have no idea. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal. And do tell me what I’m supposed to do now?” Ben asked her pointedly. It was difficult to maintain his rightful indignation when anger made Rey even more attractive.

“You sit down, you do what I say, you do not interrupt me and after the class you may go and scream at Maz to your heart’s content.” The woman looked at him demandingly. Ben conceded.

“OK. Wait, do you know where to find her?” Rey gave him a sly smile.

“I’ll show you later.   _After_ the class. Now, where did we left?”

 

Armed with the knowledge of Maz’s whereabouts Ben angrily stride into her office. The woman in question barely lifted her eyes from computer screen typing furiously. If Ben wasn’t that pissed he would have marveled the speed with which she was typing but that was the last on the list of his concerns.

“Mister Solo, to which I owe the pleasure?”

“Oh, don’t give me that shit, you know very well what you have done!”

Maz lifted an eyebrow, “And, pray tell me, what is that?”

“You put me into freaking embroidery classes!” He mouthed ‘embroidery’ with particular disgust.

“Do you have a problem with your teacher?”

“No! It’s…”

“Perhaps with your classmates?”

“No!”

“Then I don’t see any problem,” concluded the woman and returned back to work.

“You don’t see any problem?!” he parroted her. “It was supposed to be calligraphy! You purposefully misled me!” Maz sighed and gestured to the chair in front of her.

“Mister Solo, please, take a seat.” He glared at her. “I insist.” Under her piercing stare Ben reluctantly complied. Maz took of her glasses, cleaned them and put them back on, giving Ben time to seethe in silence.

“Mister Solo, first and foremost, I did _not_ make you any promises. If you happen to assume something, that’s your problem, not mine.” Ben tried to interject but she silenced him with a gesture, “No, listen. If I remember correctly, I asked whether you enjoy activities which require attention to the details, patience and concentration. You said yes. Does it describe calligraphy? Probably. Does it describe embroidery? Absolutely. The direction of your classes was picked with the utmost care and if you forgot to clarify what exactly you were assigned, that’s again not my problem. You were informed that _I_ make the final decision and you’ve agreed to the conditions. Am I right?” She looked at him imploringly.

“I want to change classes,” blurted Ben. Maz sighed again.

“Very well, let’s see what we have available.” She typed something on her computer. “Sign language?”

“What?”

“A language where you communicate in signs. You know, for people with hearing issues. No?” He violently shook his head.  “How about Irish dancing? OK, probably not,” she conceded glancing on his horrified expression. “Um, not this and not this either. No taekwondo for you, sorry. Hm, cooking? No, not cooking.”

“Why not?” asked bewildered Ben.

“Mister Solo, do you seriously think that with your temper I would allow you anywhere near the room full of sharp knives and hot objects?”

“Yet you’ve forced me into the room fool of sharp scissors and needles. And children,” he deadpanned.

“Just so you know, Rey, unlike Artoo, also teaches self-defense. And, believe me, she’ll kick your ass if necessary.” Maz looked at him pointedly. For some reason this information only added to Rey’s attractiveness. “OK, let’s move on. Spanish for beginners? Oh, no, sorry.”

“What is wrong with that?” Ben asked frustrated.

“You don’t fit the requirements. They are only for children under ten. OK, accounting? No, it’s already booked. Oh, this one, it’s perfect.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, it’s quite useful, doesn’t require any preliminary experience and they still have an open slot.”

“And what is it?” asked Ben with no small amount of suspicion.

“Parenting classes!” announced Maz excitedly. “You are not even required to have a partner. They cover everything: feeding, bathing, changing diapers, your wife will appreciate it. Or husband, doesn’t matter.”

“No! Are you… What were you… I’m not doing this!” he protested.

“Are you sure? Absolutely? OK, embroidery it is,” concluded Maz and returned back to work. Ben just sat there in shock. She raised her eyes as if surprised that he is still there.

“Have a nice day, mister Solo.”

 

For the next class Ben made a conscious effort to come earlier. He was not just on time, he was the first to come, well, the first after Rey.

“Good evening,” he greeted sheepishly.

“Good evening, mister Solo,” she replied.

“It’s Ren.”

“I know, mister Solo, but you said it’s your professional name and you are here for a very unprofessional conduct,” Rey replied cheekily, her eyes twinkling. Ben blushed. It wasn’t like she was wrong.

“And please, call me by my name. Mister Solo is my father.”

“Which one? Ben or Kylo?”

“Does my answer matter?” he sighed.

“Ben it is,” concluded the woman with a smile. He tentatively smiles back.

“Rey, thank you for not complaining to Maz and for allowing me to stay. I know that my behavior was inappropriate and I probably deserve all the trouble you could have inflicted, so thank you.”

“Is that your idea of an apology?”

“Um, yes?” he shifted awkwardly. Rey laughed which brought out her dimples. Ben found himself staring.

“OK, big guy, apology accepted. Go, take your seat.” With a surprise Ben found out that his chair and table were changed for proper adult-size furniture.

“Did you?..”

“You know, you are stuck here for the next two month, better make it comfortable. Besides I do not want you to accidentally poke out someone’s eye so a proper working place was a must.” She grinned at his dumbstruck expression. “Now tell me, do you have the supplies?”

“Oh, yes, here.” Rey took a peek at the instruments and materials and sighed. Everything, including the fabric, was black, metallic, charcoal or dark grey, though one skein of thread was crimson.

“Ben, are you a latent goth or something? We had a whole lecture about colors, you know.”

“No, why?”

“Seriously? Everything you have is black, everything you wear is black, I’m pretty confident I can guess both your favorite color and the color of your underwear.” She snorted when he blushed. “My God, don’t tell me you are also shy. Anyway, I recommend you to invest in some not-black threads later, OK?”

It was only when other students started to unpack Ben realized how out of place he looked. Apparently children, girls in particular, sincerely believed that the brighter, the better. The sheer amount of pastel shades made him sick. Rey, though, clearly enjoyed it. She gave everyone compliments, paid attention to each and every of her young charges and made sure all of them are comfortable and equipped. She truly adored her students and they adored her back.

“OK, let’s begin. Today we’ll learn cross-stitching. Has anyone tried it before? No? Let’s start with threading a needle.”

Rey was a wonderful teacher. She was patient, funny and good at explanations. With her help they moved through all the preparatory steps to the fun part with ease and Ben had to admit it wasn’t half that bad (not that he was ever going to say it to either his mother or Amilyn). Sure, he had some problems with his ‘nimble fingers’ but soon he was past his first line of properly embroidered crosses. 

“You all are doing great, I’m so proud of you!” announced Rey. “Now let’s try something different. I want you to pick a picture to try. Choose something very simple, OK.” She spread several folders.

“Can I choose this flower?” asked Amira.

“I want a bird!” squealed Shara.

“A spaceship!” announced Ayala.

“Sure thing,” smiled Rey. “Ben, how about you?”

“I, um, I have no idea,” he answered sheepishly.

“You don’t like pictures? How about letters? You are a calligraphist after all.”

“I can embroider letters? Really?”

“You can embroider anything. Let me show you the patterns.” Rey suggested excitingly.

“What should I choose?”

“Go with something simple, I don’t know, your name, ‘Wash your hands’, ‘Close the door’, something like that, the shorter, the better. Just have fun with it. Oh, I know! Make something you’d want to frame,” she joked. Ben smirked. Suddenly embroidery sounded like a pretty exciting. He picked his threads and got to work.

Time passed really quickly. Ben was barely able to cut the last threads when Rey begun checking their works. “What a nice flower, Shara! Great color choice, Temiri! Such a neat work, Sabine. And how did you do, Ben?” He handed her the results of his hard work. Rey froze.

“What is that?” she whisper-shouted. “Are you out of your mind? There are children here!” She indignantly waved a piece of fabric in front of his face. There in bold black letters was proudly embroidered ‘Fuck Off’. Ben blushed.

“But you said…”

“I’m pretty sure I did NOT say that!”

“That I should choose something simple so I opted for this instead of ‘Please, Do Not Disturb’. Twice as succinct, three times more efficient,” he finished sheepishly. Rey closed her eyes taking a deep breath to compose herself. For some reason annoyance made her look cuter.

“That was definitely not what I envisioned when I advised you to have fun,” she sighed. “You improved the tension in your stiches though.”

 

Ben barely managed to make it on time but Rey didn’t comment on it only nodding him to go to his seat.

“So I was thinking today we’ll learn something nice and useful and make embroidered cards. I’m pretty sure all of you have someone whom you’d like to make such a nice thoughtful gift. What do you think?”

Her young charges answered her with various happy noises while animatedly picking their addressees.

Shara wanted to make something for her mommy, while her sister went with her teacher. Sabine picked her granddad, Temiri apparently had crush on Cassie and poor Paige almost broke down in tears not being able to choose between her parents. Luckily Rey came to her rescue and suggested making a joint one.

Ben was a bit lost. He didn’t really have someone in his life to make cards for. Sure, he had his parents and Amilyn but their relationships were not that good. Noticing his struggle Rey came closer.

“Problem?”

He hummed in agreement. Rey smiled. That was not her usual bright smile Ben come to lo.. appreciate. No, this was a vindictive ‘revenge is served cold’ kind of smile.

“Everyone, mister Ben can’t decide whom he wants to make a card.”

“For your mommy, mister Ben,” suggested Paige.

“Or for your girlfriend,” quipped Dara.

“He could,” continued the woman, “but it has come to my attention that mister Ben has an _ailing colleague_ who is on a sick leave. Should he make him a ‘Get Better Soon’ card?” Apparently that was exactly what little devils wanted him to do. “Do you need help with something else?” asked him Rey sweetly.

“No, thank you,” Ben asked through gritted teeth. He knew it was a payback for the last time, he should have seen it coming. Though, it didn’t necessarily mean that he couldn’t have a bit of fun today as well. Barely suppressing a smug grin he got to work.

“So, Ben, what do you have here?” With a lopsided green he showed Rey his work. She couldn’t check his progress before, too busy helping the youngest and then explaining how to fix fabric to cardboard base, so it hit her with full force at once. On a black canvas in red and dull greys there were embroidered two miserable carnations. Over them, also in grey, was the inscription.

“What the hell is that?” Rey whispered angrily. “You were supposed to embroider ‘Get Better Soon’, you nerfhearder.”

“Oh, sorry, I probably misheard. I was sure you said ‘Go Fuck Yourself’,” he smugly whispered back.

“Did mister Ben do something wrong?” asked Sabine. Rey, extremely aware of curious eyes on them, shook her head.

“No, sweetie,” she answered while discreetly tucking away Ben’s work, “I’m just telling him to use more colors next time.”

“We’ll continue this after the class, _Kylo_ ,” she hissed on her way back.

“OK, mister Solo, let’s talk,” she announced after sending the last of her students on their way home.

“About what?” grumbled Ben acutely feeling her displeasure.

“Oh, I don’t know. For starters, why are you always so pissed off? Or why do you do these little passive-aggressive things? Or why, instead of making something nice for a person you punched, you did this?” She waived his card in front of his face.

“I, um…”

“Ben, you come here for your anger issues and while you seem pretty OK I know that you used violence against an elder and apparently have no remorse about it. Right now I’m not sure if it’s safe for my students to be here with you. I’m really trying to understand, please, give me something.” She looked at him imploringly. Ben sighed.

“Yes, I punched my elder boss in face and I have zero remorse. I understand if you do not want me here. I’m sorry.” He looked down, afraid to meet her eyes.

“Why? Why would you do that?” Ben decided that honesty is the best policy.

“He threatened my mother.”

“What?!” Clearly, that was not something Rey expected to hear. “How?”

“I teach physics at Uni, my boss is… was the head of my department, my mother is the Dean.” He worked his jaw for a moment then noticed her horrified expression. “He is alive, don’t worry. I, um, I’ve always had a strained relationship with my family so I picked the furthest field of interest from theirs that I could. My boss, Snoke, was the only person who seemed genuinely interested in me and that’s why I ended up working for him. Well, that and my family despised him.” Ben raised his eyes. Rey looked at him seriously biting her bottom lip but there was no judgment in her eyes. Yet. He continued. “Snoke was not a good man but he was there for me and I was willing to close my eyes on his transgressions. The thing is, he only wanted to get back to my mother, to become Dean himself. Apparently I was not useful enough for him.”

“Ben…”

“It’s OK. I should have known. Anyway, at some point he asked me to fail a couple of students on their exams. I refused. God, the kids were on scholarship, their families had no extra money, one girl was a foster child, it was their only chance to get education. I may be a hard-ass but I’m not a complete monster.” Rey’s hand covered his. She nodded him to continue. “I should have file a complaint, bring the issue to the board but it was my word against his. I thought no one would have believed me. We fought instead. Snoke insinuated that he would fabricate the evidence of my mother being involved in some shady deals. I punched him. That’s it.” Rey squeezed his hand.

“Wow, that’s… Ben, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s OK, I told you.”

“What happened then?”

“Oh, Snoke filed the complaint and the board questioned me. I had nothing to lose so I told them everything. There was an investigation and it turned out that Snoke had been embezzling student grants and scholarships for quite some time. Other people also stood up. He was fired, the whole department is still under investigation. I could have been fired as well but between my mother and Amilyn, my lawyer aunt, they didn’t have much of a chance. It didn’t hurt that my students launched a whole campaign in my defense. Turned out I’m some kind of antihero for them. So here we are.”

“Here we are,” mirrored him Rey. “I’m sorry, Ben, I shouldn’t have assumed…”

“It’s fine. You were within your rights to do so. Will…” he stuttered, “will it be OK for me stay?” She smiled at him still holding his hand.

“On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Next time you will embroider only the words you can find in a dictionary, and we are good,” Rey winked.

“OK,” eagerly agreed Ben.

“And seriously, buy some brighter threads.”

 

His next class was a blast. Humoring Rey’s desire he’d bought a giant box of treads of all shades and colors. His classmates swooned.

“Mister Ben, it’s beautiful!”

“You have so many pink shades!”

“Miss Rey, he even has gold and silver threads!”

“Mister Ben is so lucky!”

“Sure he is,” commented amused Rey.

“Can I borrow this thread, please?” asked Shara shyly.

“Of cours… oh,” grumbled Ben when the girl knocked the wind out of him.

“I’m sorry, she is an aggressive cuddler,”  sighed Callie while extricating her sister.

“It’s OK,” he answered still struggling to breeze.

“Lucky me. It would be difficult to pass ‘hugged to death by a six-year-old’ as a valid reason of your premature demise,” quipped Rey. “Now, please, let’s go back to work. Have you picked which pattern you’ll work with today?”

Ben always knew he had a weird brain. A Skywalker curse as his mother often said. When it was his turn to look through the folder he saw the pattern of a puppy and he knew exactly what he had to do. Rey raised her eyebrows in suspicion. He just grinned in return. If she wanted to know what he had in mind she should just wait and see.

The result was expected but nevertheless surprising.

“I dare say this is your best work so far,” said Rey scrutinizing a vivid orange red puppy. “Such an attention to the details.”

“Thank you,” Ben answered bashfully, still trying to get rid of a mental image of Hux, “I had a very good inspiration.”

“That I can see,” she answered dryly eyeing the inscription.

“Well, you said that only vocabulary words are allowed. I checked.” Rey sighed.

“Guys, what do you think?” she asked her young charges.

“Why is it so red?” scrunched her nose Sabine.

“It’s cute!” decided Paige.

“What does ‘Rabid Cur’ mean?” asked Shara curiously.

“It means…” tried to enlighten her Temiri.

“That mister Ben has a really vast vocabulary,” quickly finished Rey. “And you’ll have one if you read a lot. Now, where were we?”

 

As they progressed forward Ben quickly realized that he liked cross-stitching far more than anything else. To him it had more order and inner logic than other types of hand-stitching, especially since it had proper patterns where you only need to count properly and follow the instructions.

Now, though, they had to power through chain stitches, stem stitches, fly stitches, bullion stiches and whatever-not stitches and Ben felt his brain exploding slowly. Also it seemed that every single stitch in existence was made to create flowers and it started to get to him. Ben had already made enough test samples to make a herbarium and he needed something less floral for a change really really badly.

The opportunity presented itself unexpectedly when Rey decided that their personal choice project time coincides perfectly with Father’s Day.

“Since we already know how to make cards, let’s make greeting cards for our dads,” she suggested with a smile. Temiri raised his hand.

“Miss Rey, can I make a card for my mom instead?”

“Of course.” Ben jerked his head.

“Is that an option?”

“As far as I know, Ben, your father is alive and well so no, that’s not an option,” answered Rey with a pointed stare.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” answered Temiri brightly, “he is not dead, he’s just left us. May I borrow some of your pink thread, please? Mom loves cherry blossom.”

“Sure, take whatever you like,” answered Ben with confusion.

“You know the expression ‘not all heroes wear capes’? That’s his mom. Her boyfriend left her when Temiri was six month old and she managed to raise a child and to get education all on her own. She is now post-grad student,” quietly explained Rey.

“She sounds great,” agreed Ben. “Sorry, do you know all your students that well? I’ve noticed that Paige calls you ‘auntie’.”

“Curious?” smiled the woman showing her dimples. “Paige is a daughter of my best friends, Finn and Rose. I’m also pretty close with Shara and Cassie’s parents, Poe and Kaydel. Sabine is a granddaughter of one of our teachers, mister Kenobi. The rest are new. Oh, and obviously I know your uncle.”

“I believe you could do without this acquaintance,” quipped Ben. Rey sighed.

The picture for the card was no-brainer. Ben decided to go with automobile theme and quickly sketched a loose approximation of Han’s Falcon (or at least he tried to as far as his artistic abilities allowed him). The car turned out to be a bit disproportional and oddly-shaped which caught the spirit of the real thing perfectly. Contented, he got to work.

Rey inspected the results with furrowed brows. “I’m pretty sure that the phrase ‘ “Best” Father Ever’ isn’t supposed to include quotation marks,” she commented dryly while making air quotes to emphasize her point.

“Clearly you haven’t met my father,” retorted Ben earning himself a glare.

“And why is your car so rusty?” She scratched her nail over a copper thread.

“I was aiming for a perfect resemblance. Believe me, it does look like that.”

“Seriously? Is it even working? Why would anyone keep such garbage?” questioned Rey. Ben snorted.

“Don’t insult my father’s main love of his life.”

“You mean after you and your mother?”

“My mother is a proud second. My placement is uncertain.” He caught Rey’s incredulous gaze.  “Trust me, I sould know.”

“You Solos are a complicated bunch,” she sighed _. You have no idea, sweetheart_ , thought Ben.

 

If he thought he detested bullion stitch it was only because he hadn’t worked with satin stitch before. Ben wholeheartedly sympathized with poor noble ladies of the ages past who had to do that all day long. Clearly this explained why they gone mad, begun forbidden love affairs, went back-stabbing and wine-poisoning. He would too if he had to embroider pillows with that every single day. But Rey spent an awful amount of time teaching them and now she wanted to see the actual results of her efforts and who was he to argue anyway? So Ben bit the bullet (or the needle or at least the thread) and came up with the idea of something he would gladly put on a cushion with which he would happily strangle his colleagues. Apparently, embroidery did get to him after all.

There was only one little problem - Ben was no artist. Sure, he somehow managed to make a fair approximation of a car that one time but _this_ was way out of his artistic abilities. Turned out, Rey agreed on that since the look on her pretty face was one of thorough confusion.

“You know, Ben, this time I wish you added an inscription,” she commented scrunching her nose. The expression made her look younger and even cuter which was a really disturbing tendency in his opinion.

“What was that supposed to be?” she asked pensively while eyeing four legged animal in some kind of a headdress. Her young charges curiously peeked from behind her.

“I think it’s a dog,” said Ayala with no small amount of doubt.

“In a top hat?” questioned Dara.

“Maybe it British or something,” quipped Cassie.

“It doesn’t look like a dog,” decided Temiri.

“Is it a horse?” asked Rey.

“More like a cow,” pondered Amira.

“Looks like a mule to me,” mused Jade.

“No, I think it’s Eeyore,” exclaimed Paige.

“She means a donkey,” clarified her sister.

“In a hat?” asked Shara.

“Yep,” confirmed Ben. “A donkey in a hat.” Temiri snickered, Cassie stifled a laugh, Ayala blushed.

 “A donkey in a hat,” repeated Rey flatly. Under her stare Ben shifted awkwardly.

“That was the idea.”

“The idea… _you asshat!_ ” Rey mouthed silently. She looked like she wanted to give him a lecture on appropriate language around children but she obviously couldn’t while these particular and very perceptive children were standing within earshot so she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself.

“Next time when you’ll have another _pantastic_ idea, please, stick to proper language.”

“I’ll try,” responded Ben unconvincingly.

 

“You know what you can also incorporate into your works?” asked them Rey happily. “Beads. And bead seeds and sequins. Even rhinestones if you feel like it.” Ben immediately rolled his eyes. He was never fond of sparkly things and a perspective of working with ones didn’t really tempt him. His classmates though…

The girls erupted into heated discussion of dresses, bags, headbands, carpet (really, what did it have to do with carpet, even if they were red?) and all the things you could put beads on. It didn’t get any better when Rey showed the types of supplies they could work with. Ben had never thought there could be so many kinds of freaking beads. Big, small, round, oblong, flat, sparkly, clear, novelty shaped, in all sizes and shades. He almost felt himself sick. And then there were dozens of ways of how to attach the wretched things where you want them to be. Ben dearly missed his flosses. Beads were small, scratchy and irritating, they tended to get lost all the time and get everywhere and refused to go on a needle. He was so happy when the class ended but the prospect of the work of his own choice still loomed over him. Luckily (or unluckily) his life was an endless supply of inspiration.

For his next class Ben came prepared, armed with an idea, a pattern and an assortment of green seeds in various shades. Rey was deeply in discussion with Sabine and Cassie regarding the best way of how to embroider a headband. She raised her eyebrows at the sight of his supplies.

“I was fairly sure you’ll go with black.” Ben shrugged.

“Maybe I wanted some change.”

“Good for you,” answered Rey dubiously.

Her brows rose even higher when she saw what exactly he was working on. The picture depicted several green pods, one open, and peas. One central pea was distinctly duller in color.

“Wow, that’s impressive. How did you come up with the pattern?” Rey asked curiously, her fingers tracing gently the lines.

“Um, I just used a cross-stitch one,” he answered abashedly.

“What a wonderful idea. This is really creative.” She looked pleased. “I only don’t get one thing. Why peas?”

Ben shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “It’s just work stress has kind of got to me. Remember when I said that my department is under investigation?”

“Yes?” Rey blinked confusedly.

“So they’ve sent us this new inspector and he is really frustrating. Like, ‘tear your own hair out’ frustrating.” The woman slowly nodded.

“OK, but what does it have to do with this?” She pointed on the embroidery. Ben looked abashed.

“Let’s just say he is not the brightest bean in the pod.” Rey inhaled, slowly exhaled, and then counted to ten.

“Ben, have you ever considered making something normal? I don’t know, a kitten, a bat, a Death Star? Something average?” He smirked.

“No, not really. But I appreciate the suggestion.”

“Sure you do,” muttered Rey.

 

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that girls love sparkly things. The excitement was palpable in air since the moment Rey had announced that they start working with metallic threads. “You’ll like it,” she said. “It will be fun,” she said. Well, for a masochist it would probably be a rather pleasurable experience but Ben wasn’t that far gone yet.

The truth was that metallic threads were wicked. They constantly tangled, knotted, broke, frayed like crazy and just plainly refused to do what he had in mind.

“It was supposed to be pretty! Why is this thread so horrible?” wailed Ayala.

“That’s because yours sparkles. They are the worst,” replied Cassie mournfully.

Ben definitely shared their sentiment. He himself was on the edge of tearing his precious locks out of pure frustration but Rey, an actual angel, showed them a couple of tricks, worked some magical substance over the floss and everything turned better again.

Things become more fun when the wretched thing started to behave properly. Then their beautiful teacher decided it was time for a free choice work.

“Just pick something that deserves to be embroidered in gold,” she said to the class while locking eyes with Ben. He gave her a crooked grin. He totally could work with the requirement.

“How is it going, guys?”

The class mumbled something back. Rey went around checking the progress.

“Temiri, your night sky is beautiful!” The boy beamed at praise.

“A Christmas tree? Isn’t it a bit too early?”

“Why? I love Christmas,” laughed Paige.

“Is it a dandelion?” Rey leaned down to inspect Dara’s work.

“Yes, my friend showed me how to do brooches so I want to make one out of this,” the girl smiled shyly.

“Great! I’m happy you’ve found a practical application for your skills.” She turned to Ben. “OK, surprise me!”

He proudly presented his work. Rey glanced at it than sighed.

“Seriously, Ben? ‘Abandon hopes all ye who enter here’? You could think nothing better of?” He huffed defensively.

“What’s wrong with that? It’s classics! You said to choose something that deserves to be embroidered in gold. This is _Dante_!”

Rey rolled her eyes. “I have nothing against “Divine Comedy” but what made you pick this phrase? What are you even going to do with it?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Probably frame than either put it on the door of my office or leave it for my mum’s. We’ll see. I’ll keep you posted,” he added with a wink.

“Just so you know, you are absolutely insufferable,” informed him his teacher with exasperation.

 

“Today,” announced Rey with a maniacal glint to her eyes, “are starting to learn ribbon embroidery. It’s a beautiful craft which is perfectly suitable for creating flowers. So we’ll be making mostly flowers, flowers, some greenery and flowers again.” She looked Ben straight in the eye. “And nothing else.”

“Not even baskets?” asked Paige.

“Well, maybe baskets,” conceded the woman.

“What about bows?” questioned Jade.

“And bows, but nothing else. Especially not letters.  Now, you may notice that a lot of stitches are already familiar to you but you’ll learn some new things as well. Believe me, you’ll love it.” Surprisingly, Rey was right. For some reason Ben indeed enjoyed bending ribbons to his will, so to say. Or maybe he just had the best teacher. They slowly worked from the basics to fun stuff and then they patiently went through rose, irises, chamomiles, peonies, tulips, carnations, briar roses, daffodils and cherry blossoms (not counting bows and baskets). Next was the free choice.

“So, Ben, do you know what you are going to do?” asked Rey curiously and slightly suspiciously.

“A bouquet,” he grinned. “I bet you’ll love it.”

“Sure I do. Flowers are the best.”

_Oh, you have no idea_. Ben took the task as a personal challenge. He even did _research_ , lots of it. He knew precisely what to do, how to do it and with what. Ben was so ready. Sure, it took some time and practice and plenty of experiments (meadowsweet turned out to be particularly difficult) but he nailed it. And that was his best work so far. He was proud of himself. He also stood out a lot. Seriously, what is it with girls and roses?

When it was his turn to present Rey practically beamed. _If only you knew, sweetheart_.

“Wow, Ben, that’s incredible! Did you come up with it on your own?”

“Um, yes, but I did some research beforehand,” he answered bashfully.

“Your lilies are perfect. Truly.  I also recognize geranium and this must be carnations. Not sure about these white flowers.” Rey traced the petals with her finger.

“That’s meadowsweet.”

“Just wow, I’m really impressed. You must have spent so much time on it.” Ben shifted awkwardly.

“That was a labor of, um, love.”

“Great work, seriously.” Rey looked pensive for a moment. “You know, there is such thing as the language of flowers. Once upon a time I used to work at flower shop and we often used it to make bouquets with special meanings for our customers.” Ben stiffened.  “For example, carnation means fascination.”

“Oh, really?” he asked faintly.

“Yes, but a lot depends on color. Red for admiration, white for innocence, yellow, um, I think for disappointment.”

“How interesting,” Ben commented dryly.

“Yes! And this thing…”

“Cardamine,” he supplied.

“Oh, I know, I know, it’s paternal error. Geranium, though, stands for stupidity. Lilies mean lots of things but orange, if I remember correctly, means hatred. Hm, what a weird choice you have. And foxglove…” He saw the exact moment when everything clicked. Rey’s eyes went very wide, incredulity written on her face. “Ben, please, tell me this is not a ‘fuck you’ bouquet,” she asked slowly.

“Um, I can but I would prefer not to lie to you.”

“You embroidered a ‘fuck you’ bouquet!” Rey whisper-shouted at him. “God, you spent so much time researching just how to passively-aggressively insult someone?! That’s a whole new level.”

“I’m sorry, I…”

“Just so you know this is simultaneously the worst and the best student’s work in my career. Now, please, hide this atrocity and your insanely creative personality out of my sight. I have a feeling I’ll need a drink tonight.”

 

Upon his next arrival Ben was greeted with a very tight-lipped smile from Rey.

“Guys, you can sit down, I need to talk with mister Ben for a minute, OK?” She grabbed his elbow and practically dragged him out of the class.

“You!” Rey rounded on him. “What were you thinking?!”

“I’m not quite sure what you are talking about,” he blinked confusedly.

“Oh, no, you do! Yesterday my boss, a certain Luke Skywalker, invited me to his office and guess what I saw hanging on his wall? A picture embroidered and gifted to him by his nephew, my student. A fucking ‘fuck you’ bouquet! On my boss’ wall! That _you_ gifted your uncle!  So that everyone could see! What’s wrong with you?!” She seethed with anger.

Ben sighed. “My mother keeps a list. It’s alphabetized.” Rey groaned.

“Do you really hate Luke so much? Poor guy has no idea that there is an insult hanging from his wall.”

“He probably knows and thinks that it’s funny. We Skywalkers are weird like that.”

“OK, OK, listen,” Rey took a deep centering breath, “you are a smart talented person but, God, you are frustrating!  Ben, Kylo,” she looked at him imploringly, “I have no idea what is going on in that weird brilliant mind of yours, you are intelligent, skilled, persistent, and, though your sense of humor is totally fucked up, you have so much potential and yet every single time you choose to waste it on some obscure passive-aggressive pun. I feel like I failed you as a teacher and as a friend.”

“No, that’s not true! I learned so much from you,” Ben tried to protest but Rey just shook her head.

“You see, it’s just a set of skills, you don’t need a teacher, you don’t need _me_ to pick it up. What I was trying to achieve here is to encourage my student to create something nice, beautiful, inspiring. And what did you do?” Ben run his hand through his hair.

“I, um, I tried to be creative.” Rey snorted.

“Creative in insulting people? That you did succeed in. OK, here is the deal.” She jabbed a finger into his chest. “This is our next to last class. You can choose whatever you want for your final project. I usually encourage my students to do gifts and that’s what I’m asking from you. If you really want to prove that I didn’t fail as a teacher you’ll have to make something nice. Not an obscure pun, not an offence in long-dead language, not some morbid quotation, something honest to god nice and then you’ll have to give it to someone you genuinely like or at least don’t resent. I don’t care who it is, it can be your distant relative, your hair stylist, a cashier in your supermarket, a random person on a street, whatever, you only have to make something nice and give it. Can you do that for me?” She looked at him with such sincere begging expression that Ben couldn’t even fathom a thought of disappointing her.

“OK.”

“OK? Really?” For the first time that evening Rey genuinely smiled.

“Yes. For you.” Ben nervously ran his fingers through his hair again.

“Thank you! Now come on, we have a lot to do.”

 

Ben put a lot of thought into the challenge. He knew exactly whom and what he was going to make his gift, the real question was _how_ to do it.  He mused over the idea again and again until he settled on what he did best – a message in a message. With that everything had become clear. Ben had a mission and he was going to finish what he had started.

The work itself was a breeze. It was the anticipation that was killing him. He went to his last class with his stomach in knots. His classmates, on the other hand, were extremely agitated. Everyone was hoping to impress their favorite teacher though it was probably impossible to disappoint Rey. She awwed  and cooed over Sabine’s rose handkerchief and Amira’s beaded belt, Cassie’s and Shara’s matching hoops embroidered with flower wreaths, praised Dara’s skills in jewelry-making and Temiri’s imagination in recreating Solar system. She literally squealed over tiny slippers Paige decorated for the baby her mother was expecting and Ayala’s christening gown for her niece.

“Ben?” He jumped from surprise.

“Can I, um, show you after the class?”

“OK,” answered Rey eyeing him with suspicion. Ben barely made it to the end busing himself with embroidering simple stars pattern. It didn’t help that on their way out both Cassie and Temiri _winked_. When the last student had left the class Rey turned to him expectantly.

“Well?”

“Here,” he handed her a big envelope. Inside was a card with beautiful ribbon embroidery.

“Ben, it’s exquisite,” gasped Rey. “Who is it for?”

“You,” he answered simply.

“Oh, Ben.” He blushed.

“ You, um, you said that I should make a gift for someone I like and I like you. A lot.”

Rey gently traced yellow petals. “How did you know I like sunflowers?”

“I didn’t, I picked it up for its meaning,” Ben answered abashedly looking intently at her reaction.

“Well, sunflowers mean gratitude or appreciation.” She smiled. “That’s sweet. Jasmine stands for amiability and this…” Rey touched one purple flower.

“Clematis.”

“Oh, it means art. Nice to know you are grateful for my lessons. Snowdrop stands for hope and… Is this peony? It means bashfulness.” Rey’s forehead creased. “I’m not sure what this is.”

“Peach blossom.” His heart rate sped up.

“Geranium again? Seriously, Ben? And that…” Rey inhaled sharply. “Is… is that  honeysuckle? Ben…” He braced herself.

“Turn over the card.” She complied. Ben forced himself to be still.

On the back in elegant handwriting was written a meaning of each flower.

_Sunflower, dwarf – admiration, gratitude._

_Jasmine, Indian – attachment._

_Clematis – mental beauty, art._

_Peach blossom – I am your captive._

_Honeysuckle – devoted affection._

_Geranium, nutmeg scented – expected meeting._

_Peony – bashful._

_Columbine – anxious._

_Snowdrop – hope._

Ben watched every smallest change of Rey’s expression while she read. Her face morphed through shock to surprise to realization.

“Ben,” she asked with wide eyes, “are you asking me out?”

“Yes. I mean, if you want to. It’s totally OK if you don’t. Than just pretend it’s just a ‘thank you’ gift. No problem. Sorry, I’m bubbling.” He ran his hand through his hair nervously. Rey laughed. Of all possible variants this was totally _not_ a reaction he was hoping for. His heart sunk. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. I’ll just go.”

“Wait!” Rey catch his sleeve. “Aren’t  you interested in my answer?”

“Do you have one?”

“Well, I clearly have no time to embroider you something but I’ll try my best to match. So, truffle.” Ben blinked.

“It’s not a flower.”

“But it has a meaning,” retorted Rey.

“Surprise.” She smiled.

“Yes. Than carnation.”

“Which one? Purple, pink, red?” he asked eagerly.

“White, maybe red. And definitely daisy.” He took sharp intake of breath feeling his chest constrict.

“Rey…” It came out full of reverence. Her eyes softened in response.

“Pea. And…” She smiled mischievously.  “Mistletoe”

“Rey, is that what I think it is?” rasped Ben.

“Probably. Depends on what you are thinking,” she answered with twinkling eyes.

“Are you sure? Because if not…” Rey huffed

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, you silly man. Come here,” she catch his collar and tugged him down for a kiss. Kissing Rey was an otherworldly experience. It was nothing like he imagined, no, it was so much better. Feeling her lips under his, her delicate fingers playing with small hairs at the base of his neck, her soft skin under his fingertips sent his senses into overdrive. Reluctantly they parted for air. Ben didn’t let her go setting his hands on her small waist. Rey cupped his face with one hand and he immediately nuzzled into it. She beamed at him.

“That was…”

“Good?”

“No,” his heart stopped, “much better. Though I may need a repeat just to make sure.” Rey winked.

“You do? Ah, you do,” Ben said huskily ducking to catch her lips in another kiss.

It took several rounds of repeated performance for them to let each other go. Rey settled her hands on his chest looking at him through her lushes.

“So, mister Solo, about that date.”

“Yes?” Ben asked breathlessly.

“Does Friday works for you?”

“Definitely,” he nodded eagerly.

“Pick me up here at seven?”

“Sure, sweetheart.” Rey sent him a smile.

“God, I managed to catch myself a man who looks cute, has this gorgeous hair,” she twirled his locks around her fingers, “embroiders me love confessions and is willing to do my bidding. I think I’m going to keep you.” Ben grinned.

“I’d like that very much.”

**Author's Note:**

> Rey’s answer:  
> Truffle – surprise.  
> Carnation, white – endearment.  
> Carnation, red – yes.  
> Daisy, garden – I share your sentiment.  
> Pea, everlasting – an appointed meeting.  
> Mistletoe – this one is pretty obvious;)


End file.
